Burritos for Everyone
On September 28th 2000, Foam Rubber
played at the Big Horse Lounge on Milwaukee Avenue, near the Double Door. Being
a Thusday night, downtown, not very many people got a chance to see this show.
Parking was hard to come by on Milwaukee Ave., so I parked on the other side
of the Double Door. I walked past the Big Horse Lounge twice. I couldn't find
it. This was because I was looking for a BAR. The front of the Big Horse Lounge
is in fact a burrito place. The bar was in back. I couldn't believe it. Foam Rubber was playing at a burrito place!
We loaded our stuff in through the back alley. Then
we hung out in the front, restaurant area, drinking. 
As people were walking by, we were saying stuff like "Come on in! Free band
tonight! Free beer! Free burritos!" Everyone kept on walking. Later it evolved
into "Free sex show! Live nude girls! Live sex show!"
People kept on walking.
Jeff tossed one of his
cigarettes out onto the sidewalk and a spry homeless man swooped down and
snatched it up, popped it in his mouth, and strutted away puffing on the butt.
Not too long after, the homeless guy came back and he was carrying a stack of
newspapers, selling them for a buck each. They were free newspapers and he was
selling them for a buck each! His name was
Willy. He was missing half of his front teeth. Since he was so charming,
we asked him to introduce the band. We gave him a couple of beers and some
cigarettes. We practiced with him what he would say. "Come on all you
mother-fuckers! Foam Rubber is in the house! Straight from the projects, Foam
Rubber!"
The guy running the burrito place, Oscar,
was trying to chase him out. "No no, Oscar, he's with us," we said. Oscar wasn't
very happy with us.
The stage was small -
especially for seven guys. I don't think the sound guy believed us when we told
him how many vocal microphones we wanted. Five, yes we needed five vocal mics.
Andy and Paul didn't need any mics. Right before we went on, we grouped outside
in the alley. Soter put his costume on. For the second time, he was George
Washington.
Before we went on, Andy leaned over to
Willy and said "Okay, man, you're on!" Willy confidently strutted to the front
of the stage.
"Come on all you mother-fuckers! Foam Rubber is in the
house! Straight from the projects, ladies and gentlemen, Foam Rubber!"
Willy left in a hurry -- as if he was a busy guy. We had joked that we were
going to let Willy join the band. "Willy, where can we reach you? Listen, man,
do you have an e-mail address?"
Confetti was
everywhere within the first few minutes of the show.
In the middle of the show, Soter again did the Foam
Rubber challenge, the game where you, the fans compete for authentic Foam Rubber
prizes. Tonight, our contestant was a Mexican guy. Soter said, "Alright, the
Mexican flag is green white and red." He paused. "What color (he paused again)
is the Mexican flag?"
The Mexican guy was
perplexed. He said, "Um, white... eh... red ..." Soter whispered to him, "Its
right there on the wall." "And green!" he concluded confidently. Soter rewarded him with a rubber chicken (not the one that makes
noise when you squeeze it.)
Please, don't ever miss
a Foam Rubber show.
back to Great Moments in
Foam Rubber History